Storing metal files
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Tagged: "metal file", Tool storage
- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 5 months ago by John Purser.
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30 September 2013 at 3:51 pm #19458
Today I learned that searching for “files” on this site isn’t a terribly helpful way to find out about tools…
By accident I’ve accumulated quite the collection of files and a few rasps. I think I have about three dozen or more now. These came in “Granddad’s old tools” collections and after derusting and cleaning a lot of them were in surprisingly good shape. So I saved them against a future need.
But how do I store them? Right now I’ve got them laid out in a dresser drawer on a towel sprayed with WD-40 as a temporary way to get them out of the way and keep some rust off them. But this wastes a lot of space.
I was thinking about cutting slots in two or three 1″X Somethingertheother, adding side boards, and storing them horizontally on their edges. This would keep them from banging around and make them more visible and accessible than a tool roll. One site recommended simply drilling file handle sized holes in a block of wood and sticking them in there but that won’t work for me for several reasons.
Anyone got a better idea for either short term or long term storage?
John
30 September 2013 at 3:53 pm #19459Searching this site did turn up this useful link I thought I’d repost here:
http://www.saveedge.com/ref.html
Do what I do. Toss your pile of files in a plastic tub w. lid, put them on a low shelf, pile other boxes on top and forget about them until one day you need the file that is on the very bottom. 😉
Seriously, I have to think this thing through myself.
I like Brian’s horizontal rack for large files and rasps. Not terribly compact, but it makes the file patterns easy to see and grab. A long box would work well if you stored them in a slotted till with handles arranged in alternating directions. A drawer with shelf liner would probably keep them from banging into each other as well.
Saw files are probably best stored vertically in a block (like a knife block) where you can easily see and grab any size. Bob Smalser’s file block is quite well stocked.
5 October 2013 at 1:50 am #19628I went with storing most of them in a couple of towel rolls because who needs access to a couple dozen metal files? I saved about four out in various sizes along with the one I use for easing the edges of the new planes. I think I’ll make a rack along the lines of BrianJ’s for them once I’m making tool space.
Thanks for the feedback.
John
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